Talent is overrated & the importance of real skills

Our society and culture tends to put a little too much weight on talent. We call them rockstars even if they're not musicians. Job descriptions seeking the latest rockstar talent. 

There are absolutely talented people out there but they're not as common as we'd want them to be. Can we be honest with ourselves? Maybe we don't have as much talent as we'd like. 

But here are 10 things that require ZERO Talent:

  1. Being on time
  2. Work ethic
  3. Effort
  4. Body language 
  5. Energy
  6. Attitude
  7. Passion
  8. Being teachable / coachable 
  9. Doing extra
  10. Being prepared

Ever worked with someone talented? It's great. But have you ever worked with someone talented who can barely check 3 from the above list? Unbearable and a waster opportunity. 

Also somewhere along the road we've put so much attention to hard skills that we didn't bat an eyelid with the semantics of soft-skills. Is soft really the correct adjective and how important are they? Are they even optional these days?

So we prefer to call them real skills.

Also while we're here and on this topic:

Hire for attitude, train for the skill. 

Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines co-founder 

How we do things around here

  • Leaders eat last
  • Managing upwards
  • Search-driven development
  • Building on the shoulders of giants

Further Examples

The rule of 3rds - mentors, peers and mentoring

The importance of having mentors, peers, and mentees at different stages of life. It encourages a balanced approach to relationships, valuing wisdom from mentors, support from peers, and the opportunity to mentor others.

Curiosity, learning and change as a muscle that needs to be exercised

And just as a muscle needs movement before atrophy so does our mind and brain. Sure, feel free to start going to the gym at your 40’s, 50’s’s or eve 60’s. It’s not impossible but it will be harder. Being curious is a mindset and provides de initial impetus to affect change. Learning news ways of thinking and doing which catapult change. The more you change your mind, the easier it becomes and flexibility becomes the norm.

Open Communication and Asynchronous Collaboration by default

Open communication is vital for collaboration, with praise given publicly and correction privately. Respecting people’s time and space means considering the purpose of communication and using asynchronous methods like documentation and prototypes as a priority before requesting expensive synchronous meetings.